Sunday, March 12, 2006

So much to do, so little time!

Hi. Sorry it has taken me a while to post. Many things happened this weekend.

Friday I hung out with hubby BJ (always a good thing to do). Saturday BJ had a concert in Eugene (he plays trombone in the Beaverton Community Band) so we traveled down there and back. The band played very well and I knitted straight through so I got a bunch done on my Komi hat (see third picture below). My mother-in-law also plays in the band (flute) so my father-in-law was sitting next to me. He has trouble with staying awake at these kind of things so I was fully prepared to elbow him (would sticking him with a knitting needle be ok?) if he started to snore. He actually did remarkably well and between the loud brass instruments, half a tin of altoids, and sitting all the way forward on his seat he managed to stay awake through most of the performance. Trust me, it's an accomplishment.

Sunday I met with some awesome knitting gals. I am a member of Jeanie Townsend's Sock KnitAlong Yahoo Group and another member of that group, Tammy (Hi Tammy!) visited by blog and noticed I live in Lake Oswego. She lives in Beaverton/Aloha area which is not that far away. So, she and I started emailing and arranged a to meet and see if any other knitters wanted to come along. Of course, I recruited my awesome new-knitter sister to come with me and Tammy brought some of her friends along as well. We even had another member of Jeanie's group come down from Washington to join us! We met at Yarn Garden on Hawthorne St in SE Portland, Oregon. That is a nice little shop. Actually, I should say the coffee shop is little. Attached to the sipperie is the Yarn Garden itself, home to skeins and hanks and balls of fibre galore. You see, Melody (my sister) and I went into one room and thought "Wow, this is neat" then finished looking around and went to exit back to the yarn shop when - WAIT! - what is that I see? Another room?! So we ventured forward into uncharted territory. Oh, more glorious colors and textures! I bought a ball of Sockotta yarn in spring colors (Yes, one more project - socks for sister) and we headed back to the sipperie. But - OH MY! - another room?! Yes, it went on like this for two more rooms. It is amazing! So, all that to say, if you are in the area, you should check out Yarn Garden. It is worth the visit and has a coffee shop attached to make the whole experience perfect!

Now, before I let you see the photos of my UFO's, you must hear the following very important news: Tangle Knitting Studio in Lake Oswego, Oregon has an informal "come sit and knit" time every Sunday. I dropped in there after leaving Yarn Garden in hopes that some yarn (handle for purse in progress) I had ordered had come in. It hadn't, but there were at least 15 women sitting on couches and chairs chatting away and all knitting something different. I sat down and joined them for a while before I was so hungry I just had to leave before starting to nibble on the yarn. I hear that Yarn Shop Owners take a very dim view of such things. So, all that to say, again, if you are in the area, stop in! I am going to start going dropping in regularly for at least an hour or two at at time. Alice opens up at 12:00 on Sundays and closes at 5:30. Be there or be square! Wait, a better motto - Be there AND be square! Now that's what I'm talking about...

(By the way, I will add links to this post tomorrow so you can investigate all these wonderful places. I'm thinking that my computer is only so cooperative tonight and its good graces don't extend that far right now.)

Now on to projects:

The poncho is almost completed (finally!). Yes, this is the one I was going to have done by the end of the Knitting Olympics. Shhh...I heard that. It's not like you finished yours either! Geez! All that is left is the fringe and...

Seaming below the cuffs! See this cuff below? It seems to be cut off for some reason but maybe you can see anyway that it is not joined past the cuff. I don't like that because it seems to let drafts in. So, though the pattern doesn't call for it I am going to seam it up about 4 inches and call it done. That should leave the front loose but cut off the air flow from the side.

Here is the progress on my Komi hat. I actually completed more today during my lunch break and while waiting on my MRI at the doctor's office. I frogged it down to the light green stripe there at the bottom. The background is earth green and the foreground was brown. The pattern wasn't showing up as well as I would have liked so *rip* and start over with red! I think it will look nice with just the green background and then the contrasting pattern of red and light green (which you will see more of the closer I get to completion). So far so good!

Here's my attempt at spinning Merino. Yeah, not working out as well as the wool I was spinning before. This is a lot more slippy, but oh so soft! I'll keep trying, though, and it will just have to be considered unique hand spun yarn when I finish. I think I'll make felted slippers with it.

Cuff finished on a gold club I'm making for BJ. The argyle pattern is just starting. Blue background, Red diamond with white diagonal stripes. I'm using Wool Ease yarn on size 6 dpns.

Well, that's all for now. Time for a warm, cozy bed and a long, refreshing sleep.

6 Comments:

Do u notice how you have all this stuff to do and places to go to and yet at every single event (even church!)you are knitting? I mean, seriously, female. C'mon now... You even knit at hockey games...WHAT IS THAT?!? Lol I told my friend about that (he's a big hockey fan) and he like cracked up!!! He said he'd never seen or heard of anyone knitting at a hockey game of all places. But when he heard you did that at church and other random places, he was like,"Oh, yeah, well that makes sence, because, um, church is boring." Then again, how would he know since he hasn't even been inside a church in like 15 years ha ha. He's evil. JK. But yeah, I just wanted to mention that b/c i think it's funny.ooh ooh ooh... Guess what?? I'M REALLY TIRED!!!! YAY!!! lol. It's almost midnight and I'm doing homework (well, not exactly RIGHT NOW, but u know what i mean), and I should be doing my paintings but I'm sick of painting and drawing right now since I just spent forever on those club layout plans for Gabe. The good side of that, though, is that I'm getting $50.00 for the drawings, where as, I'm not getting paid for homework. And that's also another reason why I can't go to bed now even if I wanted to...because Gabe is coming over here TONIGHT to pick up the sketches since he and his group are presenting the club plans and stuff for their business class TOMORROW. So, um, yeah, I'm pretty much very exhausted from the long day and I'm getting sick and I have A LOT of homework and I'm stressin out. I need this weekend to come sooner!!!

I hope your week is going well. I had a great time at the Yarn Garden on Sunday. I can't wait to do it again, but need to make sure I'm spending time with the family(dh anyways) on the weekends. I hope your sister is feeling better. It seems everyone I know is sick, or getting over something, including my 16yo.

Christine, you are welcome to join us anytime!! I'd like to try out Mabel's Cafe as well.

I'm so disappointed that i didn't get good pics back. That's why i need a good digital camera...and i need dad to wear those hideous pajamas again so i can actually capture it on film instead of that big blur i ended up getting this time. THE PICS SUCKED!!! Gabe didn't even have flash on when he took those funny pics!Oh well. SO...how's it goin? man,i had fun yesterday. Not like I was busy active doing a bunch of stuff, but the kind of fun day where you know, you just do whatever and relax and soak up the day and just hang out? ha ha we were 2gether most the day so u already know. And oh yeah, I went home and sketched this beautiful staircase like i was supposed to and since it was so detailed and crap and i was watching TV half the time, it took me from about 9:30 to 1:30 or something. And then I worked on other homework and by the time i got to bed it was 4 in the morning. I got less than 2 hrs of sleep. AGAIN.Well, hope you're not as tired as i am. I gotta go. TTYL. And post another blog so i don't have to keep commenting you under this one lol...not that it really matters.

Welcome to my life. I love my husband, my dog (Eina)and cat (Knuckles), my knitting, reading, crosswords and other puzzles, singing, camping, and starting my own business with my brother and sister. There are so many adventures in life I have trouble sticking with just one! Thank you for joining me on my journey. You are welcome anytime. Thank you for reading! Please visit my etsy shop at www.westcoastfiberco.etsy.com. Here's to life and knitting!